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In yesterday’s Inquirer, the editorial board launched a scathing attack on conservative media watchdog groups — specifically, the Media Research Center — who say reporting that the government tracks terrorists’ finances is treason. (These media groups are in stark contrast to liberal media watchdog groups, those that blast the very same media organizations for being conservative lovers, if you’re scoring at home.)
Here’s a little excerpt of the Inquirer’s editorial:
Sometimes lies should be called what they are.
“Since publishing a highly controversial story about a secret U.S. program that monitors financial transactions as a tool to fight terrorism, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller… has admitted that the liberal press is not ‘neutral’ in this war on terror.
“Indeed, the track record proves the New York Times and Bill Keller are not ‘neutral’ but grossly biased against the U.S.-led war against terrorism.”
So fulminated conservative propagandist Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center last week. His statement was part of an anti-Times frenzy whipped up by Republican strategists, then echoed ad nauseam by Pavlovian talk shows and blogs. [...]
But how can citizens of a democracy debate such principles and nuances if they have no clue what their government is doing in their name? If it were up to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, you would know nothing about flaws in WMD intelligence, torture in American-run prisons or NSA snooping. Journalists exposed all that.
But, oh ho ho, the Media Research Center has responded — via Tim Graham — saying that, well, what Brent Bozell said was, uh, well, okay, it doesn’t answer that, and concedes that point, but it says “liberal media elite” a lot! Here’s some of it:
The liberal media elite assumes the word of Bill Keller descends from Mount Olympus, and that no one can question his newspaper’s quite obvious political agenda. No, they are not “neutral” in the War on Terrorism. No one would say they’re for terrorist victory. But they have found large chunks of this war to be illegal, unconstitutional, unacceptable, reckless, repulsive, discriminatory, and most importantly, emanating from an administration they paint as a rogue regime that has no check or balance against its excesses – except for the “thoughtful, reasonable,” utterly nonpartisan New York Times. That’s a nice myth if you can sell it.
Indeedy. No one would say the press is for terrorist victory except for, oh, I don’t know, the founder of the Media Research Center:
“Mr. Keller said it himself: The press is not neutral in the war against terrorism. The liberal media are opposed to this war and will do anything, including disclosing U.S. national security secrets, to stop the war and hand America’s enemies a victory.”
But, y’know, who ever heard of anyone reading a press release from last Thursday before they sent out a new one?
Editorial | Government and Media [Inquirer]
MRC responds to Inquirer editorial [Romenesko]
NYT Leak Sparks Lawsuit and Investigation of U.S. Anti-Terrorist Program [MRC]
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